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POTTSVILLE — The mother of a man held in Schuylkill County Prison complained Wednesday that her son had received inadequate medical treatment that contributed to his hospitalization.

“This should never have happened,” she said during the monthly meeting of the county prison board.

She said she knew nothing of her son’s illness until she received a call from Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem.

“He’s here. He’s in a medically induced coma,” was the message, the woman told the board.

That revelation surprised county President Judge William E. Baldwin, who also chairs the board.

“We were not aware of that circumstance,” he said. However, Baldwin said he could not discuss any specific details of the matter without improperly revealing private medical information.

The woman also said her son showed tremors and fever while at the prison, running a fever of 104.7 degrees, but did not receive proper treatment while there.

After the meeting, Warden Eugene Berdanier also said he could not discuss details of the case due to medical privacy laws.

“It was an ongoing medical issue,” was all he would say.

Commissioner Gary J. Hess, also a board member, said he was surprised at what he heard.

“Any prisoner there is in our care,” he said. “Their health is taken care of pretty well.”

Also at the meeting, the board voted to promote John Roshannon to a full-time corrections officer from a part-time one. He replaces Timothy Henning, who resigned effective July 23.

The board also announced that part-time corrections officer Austin Ritchie will be resigning his position, effective Monday.

Berdanier also said the prison population as of Wednesday is 254, 201 men and 53 women, down from a July peak of 276.

Contact the writer: pbortner@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6014

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